SARS: Spring-Warmth or Wind-Warmth?

[Guest guest]

At 8:45 AM -0400 4/17/03, Rory Kerr

wrote:

From what we've seen described, it seems

to me that the wind-warmth category fits better than the

spring-warmth. However, it may be better that these categories should

be used flexibly, rather than assuming that it has to be one or

another.

--

At 10:37 AM -0400 4/17/03,

WMorris116 wrote:

As you might

imagine, it is a great topic of inquiry amongst our Chinese faculty.

They consider it to be winter and spring warm

disease.

--

 

Will,

 

I believe wind-warmth arises most

commonly in either the winter or spring, so it fits seasonally; my

references don't mention 'winter-warmth'. I prefer the category

wind-warmth for SARS because it deals mainly with the lung, which

spring-warmth does not. Therefore the formulas for lung heat are to be

found under wind-warmth, rather than under spring-warmth.

 

Rory

[Guest guest]

April 18,2003

 

Dear Rory,

 

Would you please make available your references ?

 

Rey Tiquia

 

 

 

, Rory Kerr <

rorykerr@w...> wrote:

> At 8:45 AM -0400 4/17/03, Rory Kerr wrote:

> >From what we've seen described, it seems to me that the

wind-warmth

> >category fits better than the spring-warmth. However, it may

be

> >better that these categories should be used flexibly, rather

than

> >assuming that it has to be one or another.

> --

> At 10:37 AM -0400 4/17/03, WMorris116@A... wrote:

> >As you might imagine, it is a great topic of inquiry amongst

our

> >Chinese faculty. They consider it to be winter and spring

warm

> >disease.

> --

>

> Will,

>

> I believe wind-warmth arises most commonly in either the

winter or

> spring, so it fits seasonally; my references don't mention

> 'winter-warmth'. I prefer the category wind-warmth for SARS

because

> it deals mainly with the lung, which spring-warmth does not.

> Therefore the formulas for lung heat are to be found under

> wind-warmth, rather than under spring-warmth.

>

> Rory

[Guest guest]

, Rory Kerr wrote:

> I believe wind-warmth arises most commonly in either the winter or

> spring, so it fits seasonally; my references don't mention

> 'winter-warmth'. I prefer the category wind-warmth for SARS

because it deals mainly with the lung, which spring-warmth does not.

> Therefore the formulas for lung heat are to be found under

> wind-warmth, rather than under spring-warmth.

 

 

 

Rory, Will, and others:

 

Not to get off the SARS topic, but can you characterize any current

cold/flu patterns going on now in your own patients?

 

Here in Colorado, we're going through a round of cold/flu that is

more severe than what we had typically in the recent past. It is

like the flu of several years back that takes a long time for

recovery. It seems best characterized as a Shaoyang pattern mixed

with a large amount of phlegm. The pulses, and therefore the

symptoms, are mixed Shaoyang (wiry) and Taiyin (damp, deep, short,

thick). The deep coughing is sometimes productive, but often dry and

raspy.

 

That it is this sort of mixture is not that surprising considering

that the time right now is Spring (wood) in an Earth year. As Earth

suppresses the Water element, yin, and fluids are depleted. Wood

(wind) is out of balanced with yin and unchecked because Metal is at

its annual weakest point. If people haven't fully recovered during

the winter from the heat of last year (Horse), the lungs are already

weakened.

 

Perhaps SARS is similar, but stronger due to the type of heat

producing source (coronavirus) that is involved. In this kind of

case, I would expect that the lung pulse would show a faster and

flooding movement added to the above pulse description.

 

 

Jim Ramholz

[Guest guest]

At 4:44 AM +0000 4/18/03, rey tiquia wrote:

Dear Rory,

 

Would you please make available your

references ?

---

 

Wen & Seifert. Warm Disease Theory -- Wen Bing Xue.

Paradigm.

 

Liu, Guohui. Warm Disease -- A Clinical Guide.

Eastland.

 

Rory

[Guest guest]

At 10:38 AM +0000 4/18/03, James Ramholz wrote:

Not to get off the SARS topic, but

can you characterize any current

cold/flu patterns going on now in your own patients?

 

Here in Colorado, we're going through

a round of cold/flu that is

more severe than what we had typically in the recent past. It is

like the flu of several years back that takes a long time

for

recovery. ... The deep coughing is

sometimes productive, but often dry and

raspy.

--

It is often similar here in New York this season.

 

 

That it is this sort of mixture is not that surprising considering

that the time right now is Spring (wood) in an Earth year. As

Earth

suppresses the Water element, yin, and fluids are depleted. Wood

(wind) is out of balanced with yin and unchecked because Metal is

at

its annual weakest point. If people haven't fully recovered during

the winter from the heat of last year (Horse), the lungs are

already

weakened.

 

Perhaps SARS is similar, but stronger due to the type of heat

producing source (coronavirus) that is involved. In this kind of

case, I would expect that the lung pulse would show a faster and

flooding movement added to the above pulse

description.

--

It'll be interesting to see if the clinical

descriptions of identified SARS (aberrant corona virus) cases change

as the epidemic progresses, and as the seasons change. Would you

like to perdict how it will present in Spring 2004?

 

Rory

[Guest guest]

The deep coughing is sometimes productive, but often dry and

raspy.

--

 

ditto in Philly this week. I seemed to fall back on sang ju yin many many times this week. Modified w/ ( depending- but here’s a range) gua lou, zhe bei me, tian hua fen, tai zi shen and even xi yang shen in one case. Mai dong, bai mao gen ( one case of bloody phlegm) etc: you get the picture: dry hacking coughs, difficulty expectorating. What strikes me about it is that we’ve had a very wet winter and spring. But this type of weather phenomena is not reflected in what I am seeing clinically.

Cara

[Guest guest]

, Rory Kerr wrote:

> It is often similar here in New York this season.

>

> It'll be interesting to see if the clinical descriptions of

> identified SARS (aberrant corona virus) cases change as the

epidemic progresses, and as the seasons change. Would you like to

perdict how it will present in Spring 2004? >>>

 

 

Rory:

 

I haven't looked at 2004 yet. The cold/flu season for the Fall of

2003 should be dominated by shaoyang according to the 5-Phase

Revenge Cycle. But these are general conditions, much like the

initial conditions of Complexity Theory. A small influence could

dramatically change the direction of development and those

conditions. The introduction of the SARS virus seems to be putting

its spin on the general conditions---all the more so if it further

mutates as is feared.

 

I am interested in hearing from others to see how well these

classical theories from CM may still appear active and useful. If

they are still viable, they should also have some degree of

predictability to them, or we should be able to identify how

divergences from them occur.

 

 

Jim Ramholz